Nurses attest to Taylorville doctor’s health problems in fraud trial

Wednesday

Apr 16, 2014 at 7:22 PMApr 16, 2014 at 9:29 PM

By Dean OlsenStaff Writer

Two nurses testified Wednesday that a Taylorville doctor accused of bilking the federal government out of more than $100,000 in disability benefits was so ill that he could work only two days a week and often had to cancel patients’ appointments because he didn’t feel well.

But federal prosecutors argued that Dr. Vernon Klinefelter and his wife, Geraldine Klinefelter, hid from the Social Security Administration the fact that he supervised his wife, a nurse practitioner, as required by Illinois law; reviewed patients’ charts at home; and was admitting patients to Taylorville Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Klinefelter’s working relationship with his wife, if known to SSA officials before his request for Social Security Disability benefits was granted in early 2005, would have resulted in a denial of those benefits, prosecutors said during a bench trial of the Klinefelters in Springfield’s U.S. District Court.

“If he was supervising her and managing her … as required by law, he was working,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass said of Vernon Klinefelter.

Closing arguments by both sides may be offered today. Judge Richard Mills is presiding and will render a verdict in the trial, though it’s unknown whether that decision will come immediately.

It’s also unknown whether Vernon Klinefelter, 62, or his 60-year-old wife will testify in their own defense.

They pleaded innocent after being charged through a grand jury indictment in 2012 with felony counts of wire fraud, concealing information and making a false statement in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud Social Security between 2005 and 2007.

Federal authorities don’t dispute that Vernon Klinefelter, a family medicine specialist who now is retired, had numerous medical issues, including a seizure disorder, chronic back pain and a pituitary hormone condition.

They contend, however, that the medical problems were under control with medicine and other treatments.

Certified nursing assistant Pamela Williams, who used to work in the Klinefelters’ Abundant Life Medical Clinic in Taylorville, and nurse Joanne Leonard, a current employee, both testified that Vernon wasn’t in the office much while they were there and sometimes had to lie down in one of the exam rooms when he wasn’t feeling well.

Their testimony backed up the Klinefelters’ statements to SSA officials that Vernon was able to work in the office only two afternoons a week, seeing two or three patients each day, after 2002.

But under cross-examination, the nurses also said they wouldn’t know how much work Klinefelter was doing outside the office.

Prosecutors pointed out that the Klinefelters offered various descriptions of how much or how little Vernon’s conditions limited his ability to practice medicine in documents filed with the SSA, the Taylorville hospital, Illinois Department of Human Services and the couple’s malpractice insurance provider.

There was “no other possible intent” for the discrepancies than to fool Social Security officials, Bass said.

Prosecutors say that no matter how much or how little time Vernon spent in the office or in the hospital treating patients, his legal obligation to work as a collaborating physician — which allowed his wife to work as a nurse practitioner — put the income associated with his work well over the maximum $800- to $900-per-month limit for receiving SSD checks.

The Klinefelters’ lawyers have made statements and presented evidence indicating federal authorities unfairly slanted their investigation to make two small-town health-care providers with sterling reputations look like criminals.

Attorneys Thomas Finks and Mark Kevin Wykoff Sr. said Social Security officials knew Vernon was doing some work before granting SSD benefits.

Finks told Mills that the 18,000 pages of documents federal prosecutors produced for the case failed to yield “intrinsic evidence” of fraud and deceit.

The differences noted on forms filled out by the Klinefelters when they requested Social Security benefits and described Vernon’s health could be explained through honest mistakes, the couple’s “different understanding” of terms in the documents and exaggerations regarding the doctor’s ability to perform at a high level, Finks said.

Bass responded that the evidence of criminal intent to deceive was overwhelming.

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